Headlight.



A. .H. FORD.

HEADLIGHT. v APPLICATlON FILED OC T.30|1916.

lNVENTUQ ATTUQNEYSX Patented Aug. 7;1917'.

2 SHETS-SHET 1.

nnirnn stra rns PATENT orrion. i

ARTHURUH. FORD, or IOWA CITY, IOWA..

Original application filed August 23, 1915,1Serial No'. 47,001; forfeited, nowrenewalNo'.154,338, ieaiviarci Y 12, 1917. Divided and this application filed October 1 v:

To all whom it may 00mm.-

' Be it known that I, ARTHUR HljFonn, a

and'residentof citizen of the United States, Iowa (Jity in the county of Johnson and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Headlights, of 'wliichthe] following is a description, reference be ng had to the accompanying drawings, which.

' are a part' of thisspeciflcation.

. along the axis of the reflector.

My invention" relates to that class of lamps known as'head-lights; such as are used commonly on automobiles and street cars. It has for its object the decrease in the brightness of that portion of the beam which is'objectionable' because of its blinding effect on the eyes of a person approaching the-light and the increase of thebrightness, or' size, of that portion of the beam which is useful in lighting the roadway.

The'usual form of lamp, of the kind men tioned, consists of a light source placedat or near the focus of a reflector which is a paraboloid of revolution; the whole being mounted in a metal case with a glass front. The result of this arrangement of the parts is that an intense beam of light is thrown hen the light source is a point and the reflector a perfect paraboloid of revolution, with the light sourceat its focus, the beam is parallel. \Vhen the light source is between the mirror and its focus the beam is divergent.

Whenthe focus is between the light source a and the mirror, the beam is convergent between the reflector and a point a distance in front of the reflector depending on the relation betweenthe focal distance of the re- I flector and the distance of thelight source from it. Beyondthe point ofconvergence the beam is divergent. called a crossed beam in the following dis ing a spiral filament so placed that the axis of the filament is coincident with the axis of the mirror and so held that the position of the lamp is adjustable along this axis. This.

kindof an arrangement will be assumed in the following'explanations; though my improved device' is not confined in its application to the- ,use of sucha light source or methodof mounting thelam'p; Theordi'nafy requirements I of the illumivice is so designed as t Such a beam will be rays of light source most commonlyused at g When the lamp is the beam shall be thrown well ahead of the 'the tip of the filament focus of the mirror with Pa-tented I with the axis vehicle which carriesthe light. This requirc- 'ment is best niet by placing the lamp with substantially at the the rest of the filament between the mirror and its focus;

then placing the head light of the mirror horizontal; this giving a I divergent" beam. This requirement can also be met by' placing: the lamp so thatthe base ofthe filament is near the fo- 4 (ms of the mirror with the rest ofthe fila ment ahead of. the focus; thus giving a crossed beam: With either oftheseadj ustments the road is illuminated directly in front of the vehicle carrying the head-light, but not at the sides, except at points near enough the vehicle'to receive a strongunre flected light. This'unrcfle'oted light is not of sufiicient'intensity' to beef value when drivin at high speed. Furthermore, that portion of the light which shines above the horizontal plane through the lamp is wasted and in addition serves to blind any person who may be on the road looking toward the approaching vehicle. Many devices have been proposed to re-' duce the blinding effect, but practically all of them are objectionable in that they of necessity reduce much. of the usefultlight at the same time that they reduce the blinding effect.

My experiments have show which comesdirectly from th' without being first reflected fronith'e or, causes little or no-blinding-eif therefore. my deree.

ed with the maj or the upper part of the'irefiector. hen the lamp is adjustedwith the major portion of' the filament ahead, of the focus of the reflector th beam is crossed and the objectionable part is that" which comes from the lower portion of the reflector. The following is a description of fronts designedfor beam is divergent and the a; light I defleot the refiected 7 from the objectionable direc-. tion to a useful direction without affecting the. direct rays of ligh to any' marked dea back f the focus-of companying drawings: 1

Figures 1 and 2 show two variations in the details of the design.

Fig. 3. shows the relation of the, head-. light front to the lamp and reflector.

Figs. 4 and 5 show the directions of the light rays and forms of lighted field produced by the use of the fronts shown in Figs.

' will be of essentially one of the shapes shown Fig. 6 shows a form of front used for a crossed beam. I I

Fig. 7 shows the directions of light rays and form of lighted field produced ,by the use of the front shown in'Fig. 6. 1

ferring to Figs. 1 and 2 The device, consists essentially of a transparent headlight front with the lower po'rtionfB of plane glass and the upper portion A of prismatic glass; the prisms of the two quadrants being mutually inclined in opposite directions and having their'bases down. A front of this kind is placed over the opening of a parabolic mirror B Fig. 3, having a lamp L placed so that a portion of the filament is at the focus of-the mirror with the major portion between the mirror and its focus. v When adjusted in this way the light field Y in Figs. 4 and 5; depending'on the inclination ofthe prisms withrespect to the horizontal'plane through the lamp and their optical angle. It is essential that the prisms have their bases down; but they may be made integral with the rest of the head light. front or in separate pieces.

The "optical: angle is determined in accordance with the well known laws for refraction of light and is preferably such that none of the light reflected from the mirror is directed above the horizontal plane through 'wherefit is desired to illuminate a. narrow field at a high intensity. In.each of these figures the lighted field marked (6 receives its light through that portion of the front -marked A, that marked a through that portion of the front marked A and that marked 6 through that portion ofthe at the top and the prismatic part at the bottom. A front of this type is shown in Figs. 6 and- -7 and is used where the lamp lies beyond the center of focus F of the reflector so as to produce what has been previously designated a crossed beam. Inthis instance the beam being crossed the upper part of themirror reflects the rays downwardly and the prismatic portion of the front also turns the upwardly deflected rays from the lower part of the mirror downwardly thus producing the same effect as the construction previously described.- This is not the equivalent of turning the front over; for the bases of the prisms must be down in each case.

l/VhatI claim as my invention is:

. 1.A lens for headlights comprising an upper plane portion and a lower prismatic portion, said prismatic portion'having a plu- .rality of 'sets of refracting prisms inclined toward each other to refract the light downwardly. I

2. A head-light front, for use in connection with a headlight having a parabolic mirror adjusted so asto give a crossed beam of light, in which the upper portion is plane while the lower portion is I composed of two mutually inclined sets .of prisms, with the.

bases down, so as to deflect the light received H from the mirror to a direction below the horizontal.

3. A head-light front, for use in connec tion with a head-light having a parabolic mirror adjusted to give a crossed beam of light, in which the upper portion of the front is plane while other portions arecompos'ed of two mutually inclined sets of prisms, with the bases down, to deflect all the light re- 'ceived from the mirro'r'to a direction below the horizontal. I

4. A lens for headlights comprising a plane upper sector, and two similar lower sectors composed of. refracting prisms with their bases down and their edges inclined toward each other to refractthelight downwardlyp Y 5. A lens for headlights comprising a plane upper sector, and two similar lower sectors composed of refracting prisms with their bases down and their edges inclined downwardly toward each other to refract the light downwardly.

' In testimony whereof, I afliX my 'signa ture.

ARTHUR H. FORD. 

